The Religion Factor

Chapter:2

It's the official first day of school. I wake up, get ready and head out towards my bus stop. My father availed the bus facility the other day because dropping me off to school and later picking me up would be super hectic for him. I climb up the bus and see one single 11th grader sitting inside. I recognise that she's in 11th because of our similar uniform. This weird school has a different uniform for 11th graders God knows why. I look at her and she gives me a warm smile. I sit beside her.
"Hi! What section are you in?" I ask her.
"Hello! I'm in 11-H, what about you?"
"I'm in 11-I."
"Oh, great. What's your name?"
"I am Sirat and you?"
"I am Riya."
We shake hands and then get busy on our phones.
"By the way, are you from this school itself or are you too a new student here?" I enquire.
"Oh no, I am a new student here. I assume you too are." She says.
"Yes your assumption is absolutely correct. I am new here. And things here are extremely different from my previous school."
"I see."
A guy enters the school bus and waves at Riya. I look at him and wonder why the fuck did he just wave at Riya. He walks towards us and sits behind us.
"What's up Riyu? How's it going?" He says.
"Nothing much bro. What about you." She replies.
"Yeah same. I hope that it's gonna be fun here."
"Oh definitely. Hey btw meet Sirat,
Sirat this is Harshit."
"Hi Sirat!" Harshit greets.
"Hello Harshit! How do you both know each other?" I ask.
"Well, Harshit and I are from the same school. Even though we were in different sections, it feels like home to see someone from your previous school at this new school." Riya says.
"Alright. And yeah definitely knowing someone in this new place from before is a blessing in disguise." I say.

We introduce ourselves and talk about our previous schools, friends, ambitions and life goals. It feels good to talk to them. They both are super friendly and nice. I finally feel a bit relieved that I know atleast two people now. Whoa, that's an accomplishment.

We finally reach school. We wait in the lobby for a while and then they start assembling students into their class lines. I come to know that Harshit is in my section. They take us to our new classrooms and to my surprise the classrooms does not seem to be as bad as I thought they would be. I sit in the second row. I catch myself fidgeting and feeling super anxious but then I feel relieved when I see Nysha enter the classroom and come towards me. She waves at me excitedly and I wave her back. She keeps her bag next to my seat and sits beside me. "Sirat, I have good news man!" She exclaims.
"Oh, and what's that?" I ask.
"Well, another homie is joining us in our class! Guess who?" The only homies I have are in different schools, it feels so weird of her to even consider herself or any of our other past school mates to be MY homie.
"Oh, and who's that?" I ask, trying to sound hopeful and happy.
"Sanvi is gonna be here!!!"
"Sanvi? Sanvi Srivastava?" I ask in disbelief.
"Yes ma'am. Look, there she comes."
I look at the door and see Sanvi walking towards us. I couldn't believe that these people were going to be My Classmates. I honestly found both of them the most annoying people who could have existed in St. Xavier's Convent, but now they were here. We were here. Fate brought us to Sapphire Public School and now all we have to do is co-exist here, somehow. Even though Sanvi and I had the same section in 10th grade, we barely spoke to each other. I try to control my invasive thoughts and feel grateful to have at least two girls from my previous school in the same section as mine. They are the only people who have known me from before, so I gotta ignore everything else and finally be friends with them. Sanvi almost reaches us and I realize, This Is Gonna Be Awkward Af.
"Hi Nysha! Hi Sirat! How are my Xavier's girlies doing here?" She says.
I wave at her and shoot a fake smile towards her.
"It's the very first-day Sanvi, we have no fucking idea how it's going to be." Nysha says.
"Mmhn, I get it." Sanvi replies.

She keeps her bag to my left and sits beside me. Now I have Nysha on the right and Sanvi on the left. We talk about some similarities and the huge differences between our previous school and our new one. We point out the fact that the guys in our class are super annoying and clumsy af. Not a single guy is either decent or hot. We try conversating with girls from different schools but we figure out that ninety five percent of girls here are mean as fuck.